Machines for harvesting grain such as corn, soybeans, wheat, oats and the like are typically comprised of combines with an appropriate harvesting head detachably mounted on the front thereof. The combine is the prime mover of the machinery and powers the moving components on the head. The conventional machines normally use one type of head to harvest corn, and a different head to harvest soybeans, wheat, oats, and the like. However, all these heads have a plant cutting mechanism which severs the plants close to the ground level, and moves the cut plants to the combine where the grain is separated from the plants. The grain is gathered, cleaned, and conveyed to a grain reservoir, all within the combine. The plants from which the grain is severed are moved longitudinally through the combine, and deposited onto the surface of the field from the rearward end of the combine.
The mass of the severed plants represents tons of residue in a field of any size. Residue from corn plants is sometimes baled for roughage feed for cattle in bales weighing 1,500 to 2,000 pounds or greater. However, running this great quantity of severed plants through the combine is obviously a great burden on the combine which must provide the power to move the plants through the combine to a rearward point of deposit.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a method and means for harvesting grain wherein the grain is separated from the plant in the head instead of the combine, and the severed plants are deposited in the field from the head without moving through the combine.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.